Spain 'waiting to pounce' if Gibraltar leaves the EU

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Spain's acting foreign minister told Spanish radio on Friday that if Britain left the EU he would "raise the question of Gibraltar" the very next day.

The possibility of Britain leaving the European Union is raising serious questions about what might happen to Gibraltar, the tiny British Overseas Territory that borders Spain.

In an interview with Radio Nacional de España on Friday, Spain's acting Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo said that if Britain were to leave the EU "we would be talking about Gibraltar the very next day".

Gibraltar reacted angrily to the remark.

"The declared intent of the Caretaker Foreign Minister of Spain to bring the question of Gibraltar to the fore in the event of the UK and Gibraltar leaving the EU confirms the analysis that has already been made,” the Government of Gibraltar said in a statement to The Local.

"It is safer and more secure for Gibraltar to remain in the EU in order to deny Mr Margallo the opportunity to pounce on us," the statement continued.

"This is exactly the type of attitude that we have come to expect from Sr. Margallo and it no doubt pervades so many others of his mindset," Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabien Picardo told The Local in a statement.

"It usefully sets out the danger that those who choose Brexit potentially create for Gibraltar if there is also a Partido Popular government in Spain in the future."